Oregon will not be banned from the postseason despite major recruiting violations committed under former coach Chip Kelly, the NCAA announced Wednesday.

Kelly, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, did however receive an 18-month show-cause penalty, meaning any university that hires him will have to present its justification to the NCAA Committee of Infractions before doing so. Unless Kelly bombs after just one season with the Eagles and he seeks an entry back into the college game, this won't be an issue.

The NCAA did set a precedent in this case, though, by following through on its intention to hold head coaches responsible for the misdeeds of their staff—even if the head coach is unaware of the violations.

Kelly, the NCAA says, was unaware that former scouting service owner Willie Lyles was funneling players to Oregon, giving them money on occasion and paying for things like lodging. Former Oregon assistant director of operations Josh Gibson was also given a one-year show-cause order.

Gibson, the NCAA contends, knew of Lyles' involvement, including providing training and lodging for a recruit before the US Army All-American events. Gibson routinely told Lyles to have recruits contact Oregon coaches. Gibson and an Oregon assistant coach went as far as to ask Lyles' "assistance in facilitating a prospect's taking of the SAT."

Kelly was accused of a failure to monitor the program as it pertained to recruiting, but he essentially walks away a free man.

"I accept my share of responsibility for the actions that led to the penalties," Kelly said in a statement. "I want to apologize to the University of Oregon, all of its current and former players and their fans."

Asked whether the penalty against Kelly was "toothless," Greg Sankey, executive associate commissioner of the SEC and a member of the NCAA infractions committee said: "I've not met a person that is seeking to have a show-cause order applied to them."

The NCAA alleges that Oregon committed major violations between 2008 and 2011. Oregon used Lyles and Complete Scouting Services to lure recruits to the Eugene campus, and paid him $25,000 for what was essentially useless information. The payment came after Lyles says he was rushed to pull together a package for Oregon to present to the NCAA—one of four demanded annually by the NCAA.

Further, the NCAA considered Lyles a "representative" of Oregon because of his involvement with the university. Oregon says that Lyles merely helped direct the coaches around high school campuses and didn’t assist in the recruitment of prospects.

Oregon is under a three-year probation period, cannot use recruiting services while on probation, and loses one scholarship per year through the 2014-15 academic year (the scholarship loss started with the 2012-13 season). Sankey said he believes this is the first time a university has been prohibited from using a recruiting service. Additionally, paid official visits are reduced from 56 to 37 during the probationary period. Evaluation days were also reduced from 42 to 36 the next three falls, and a total reduced from 168 to 144 days in the spring of 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Regarding involvement with third party services like Lyles', Sankey warned: "You have to pay attention."

Tennessee, Cal, LSU and Texas A&M are among the programs that have also previously had involvement with Lyles. None were a part of the investigation into Oregon, Sankey said.

In addition to the Lyles involvement, the NCAA says that non-football coaching staff members made 730 recruiting-related phone calls over a four-year period. The NCAA agreed in the summary disposition that the violations were not intentional, but the Ducks’ staff was still responsible for enforcing the rules. Gibson was among those making recruiting phone calls.

"Listen, no one wants to be in this position so I don't think anybody's happy," Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said on Wednesday. "Again, we're pleased to be at the end of the process and we're ready to move forward. We've learned a lot, some mistakes were made and we corrected some of those along the way and we still have some more things to implement. But we're pleased that it's finished."